Source: Post Courier
Link: http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20110307/news05.htm
Published: 03 March 2011
SEVENTEEN years ago, a young commercial fisherman from Tasman Island was diving for sea cucumbers deep down on the ocean floor of Matsungan Island, Buka when he stumbled onto a plane wreck.
Tasman Islander Jessy Teolo is now 40 years old and married with six children. In 1994, like every other commercial fisherman, he dived on every reef in the Atolls looking for beche de mer to sell.
Teolo went as far as grade six and couldn’t prosper his education for a higher certificate because of the location and the difficulty in finding a way out to Buka from Tasman.
Mr Teolo instead turned to commercial fishing, spending most of his time diving for a living. In early 1994, Atolls Queen made its maiden voyage to Tasman Island. Sankamap I was also on the island making its last trip to the Atolls before going overseas for a refit. Mr Teolo, like every other young man, got himself onto the boat and travelled to Buka where he thought would return with better diving equipment and to sell his produce.
His dream of going back to Tasman became a nightmare as the vessels were no longer returning to his island home so he was stranded in Buka.
Bougainville has top A grade beche de mer/sea cucumbers on the world market and most of them are found along the low-lying islands of Buka Islands especially Petats, Saposa and Matsungan.
Mr Teolo did not sit back. In the same year, 1994 he linked up with another local fisherman – known to many as Borou – and engaged in a trade where they were diving for beche de mer. Teolo and another diver travelled to Matsungan Island later that year with Borou to dive for sea cucumber.
He dived underwater for “Bislama” as it is known in Tok Pisin and stumbled onto the plane lying on a reef facing the island.
First he thought his eyes were playing up so he gasped for air and took a second dive, this time several metres down where he confirmed the plane wreck lying on the sea bed, covered in coral and facing the island.
That was the first time he mentioned a plane sitting under the water at Matsungan – he communicated this to Borou, the local fisherman, but he took notice of this matter. Mr Teolo returned to Tasman and three years later was asked to come back to Buka to show the location of the plane wreck in 1997.
The sudden urge for the location of the plane came amidst news about Amelia Earhart plane found in East New Britain surfaced.
Old men in Matsungan also told Borou about a plane that crashed in 1937 while he was out at sea all by himself as the lightning struck and heavy rains fell. Borou asked for Mr Teolo to make his way back to Buka to show him where the wreck was.
In 1999 people were now aware of the plane wreck, many theories told and already the Matsungan Island village was now in tune with the story of Amelia Earhart and that’s where it all began.
Mr Teolo fled back to his Atoll home as there was now infighting among groups – basically on who found the wreck and other issues.
But speaking to the Post-Courier last Friday, Mr Teolo said he had a feeling when he first found it in 1994, that this wreck was different from all other wrecks he found during his dive in the Atolls and everywhere else in Bougainville, but he never voiced his feelings towards the crash until this year.
He is now a copra buyer in Fead and the Atolls with financial help from his diving expeditions and since beche de mer trade has been put on hold.
Link: http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20110307/news05.htm
Published: 03 March 2011
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| Amelia Earhart |
SEVENTEEN years ago, a young commercial fisherman from Tasman Island was diving for sea cucumbers deep down on the ocean floor of Matsungan Island, Buka when he stumbled onto a plane wreck.
Tasman Islander Jessy Teolo is now 40 years old and married with six children. In 1994, like every other commercial fisherman, he dived on every reef in the Atolls looking for beche de mer to sell.
Teolo went as far as grade six and couldn’t prosper his education for a higher certificate because of the location and the difficulty in finding a way out to Buka from Tasman.
Mr Teolo instead turned to commercial fishing, spending most of his time diving for a living. In early 1994, Atolls Queen made its maiden voyage to Tasman Island. Sankamap I was also on the island making its last trip to the Atolls before going overseas for a refit. Mr Teolo, like every other young man, got himself onto the boat and travelled to Buka where he thought would return with better diving equipment and to sell his produce.
His dream of going back to Tasman became a nightmare as the vessels were no longer returning to his island home so he was stranded in Buka.
Bougainville has top A grade beche de mer/sea cucumbers on the world market and most of them are found along the low-lying islands of Buka Islands especially Petats, Saposa and Matsungan.
Mr Teolo did not sit back. In the same year, 1994 he linked up with another local fisherman – known to many as Borou – and engaged in a trade where they were diving for beche de mer. Teolo and another diver travelled to Matsungan Island later that year with Borou to dive for sea cucumber.
He dived underwater for “Bislama” as it is known in Tok Pisin and stumbled onto the plane lying on a reef facing the island.
First he thought his eyes were playing up so he gasped for air and took a second dive, this time several metres down where he confirmed the plane wreck lying on the sea bed, covered in coral and facing the island.
That was the first time he mentioned a plane sitting under the water at Matsungan – he communicated this to Borou, the local fisherman, but he took notice of this matter. Mr Teolo returned to Tasman and three years later was asked to come back to Buka to show the location of the plane wreck in 1997.
The sudden urge for the location of the plane came amidst news about Amelia Earhart plane found in East New Britain surfaced.
Old men in Matsungan also told Borou about a plane that crashed in 1937 while he was out at sea all by himself as the lightning struck and heavy rains fell. Borou asked for Mr Teolo to make his way back to Buka to show him where the wreck was.
In 1999 people were now aware of the plane wreck, many theories told and already the Matsungan Island village was now in tune with the story of Amelia Earhart and that’s where it all began.
Mr Teolo fled back to his Atoll home as there was now infighting among groups – basically on who found the wreck and other issues.
But speaking to the Post-Courier last Friday, Mr Teolo said he had a feeling when he first found it in 1994, that this wreck was different from all other wrecks he found during his dive in the Atolls and everywhere else in Bougainville, but he never voiced his feelings towards the crash until this year.
He is now a copra buyer in Fead and the Atolls with financial help from his diving expeditions and since beche de mer trade has been put on hold.
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